Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes." - Clare Boothe Luce

Monday, January 12, 2009

Gaza

I know that I have said to my friends that I was too heartsick to be bothered with what is going on in the Gaza strip. It has been so long that these two sides, the Jews and the Arabs and the Christians screwing each other. And us as an outsider viewing what is going on inside as if we understand. I have had numerous e-mails spewing Anti-Semitic messages, without realizing that Jewish children are also getting killed. This is not about religion, this is about politics, about another polity making itself extremely felt on another polity. No doubt that both these sides have felt enmity towards each other for hundreds of years, but this does not mean that they have never lived side by side. The scale in which we are seeing right now are extremely severe, toxic weapons are being thrown to civilian homes, children maimed and burned, crushed under the rubble of stupidity in part of the Americans and the Israelis. For what? For who? Muslims must begin to understand especially Islamic fundamentalists that what is going on is not a protest against the Muslim religion, far from it. Those who are suffering are ALL, and not just the Muslims, Muslims MUST begin to realize and UNDERSTAND, to be inside other people's shoes, to unlearn our religio-centric tendencies. We as humans cannot at this time start to look at one another on the basis of what we believe in, not on the basis of our colour, creed or gender, this is a time where we should serve the most basic of our existence, that of peace, NOT chaos. I have, for a while been very sad and upset with the way things were going within Islamic fundamentalism and the issues that they like to deal with, but this is a time where Islam must show its banner as PEACE and not WAR. We cannot fight fire with fire, it is foolish, it has been said over and over again (and why the hell do people not listen?) stop and extinguish the fire. The solution could be simple, the solution could be easy, but it seems that the harder more painful path is much more comforting when we wallow in our own sadness. Right now is not the time for individualism, it is a time for community work and community peace efforts. For America, as always as has many critics have said, what they are allowing would only exacerbate the condition. Why are you allowing human beings to be extinguished just like that? For a country that speaks of peace, of freedom and human liberty, it is allowing oppression, pain, suffering and slavery in others. It seems as if at this point, the 'freedom' and 'wealth' that some Americans are experiencing is at the expense of the pain and suffering of others. There should be more transparency, people should be given all the information they have at their expense and not just one side of the conversation. I think it is appropriate that I should say as the first word of the Quran, 'Iqra', Read. Speak. Our voices should be loud enough so that everyone could hear.